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Spain’s Belin is well-known for his rosy-cheeked graffiti characters, which have a strong fine art quality to them. Belin is equally adept at painting huge murals, canvases and making sculptures, all of which carry his distinctive style. His broad technical abilities and sense of humour make him an artist, like many of his peers, that the World should be paying a lot more attention too. We painted our cheeks and caught up with Belin.

The Brilliance of Belin

When I was very little I made claydollsand drew a lot on paper. I was always interested indrawing,but it wasjust as a hobby. Around 1995I first picked up a spraycan; that’s whenI became more interestedin paintingandgraffitigraduallybecame partof my life.

My art was born in Linares, the place inspired me. I’m still living inLinares, but now I travel a lot, andI feel athomeeverywhere. Belincomes frommy last name Belinchón; so simple!

My involvement in graffiti was purely illegal, but then I started painting murals and doing legal work to pay for my paint. I’ve had some problems with the police, and even today I paint murals and graffiti illegal when I want. Also last year (2011) I painted a mural for the national police [force] inside their building on request.

When I first started painting graffiti I painted a lot of letters, but almost always I used a comic character alongside my pieces. I started doing more characters when I started hanging out with other graffiti artists who painted letters; I decided to paint more characters to entertain the murals. I still paint letters occasionally.

I’m self taught;everything I’ve learned has been on my own accomplishments. I have always worked hard tohave agoodand properstyle. When I createsomething, be ita painting ora sculpture, I try and let go of preconceptions, I use any material andshape to createa good work. Ido not know which majorartistshave influencedme,but I think allofus are influenced by every artistthat we seethroughout ourlives.

My canvas artwas bornnaturally, by the need tokeep my work alive. Streetartis ephemeral, so I started topaint pictures. I’ve loved working in three dimensionssince I was very young; I always likedtoysso one dayI decided to makeone ofmy charactersin3D; my sculptures were born.

Ipainted in countries that I never would have imagined, like Israel, Croatia, Italy, France, Germany, England, Ireland, Holland, Belgium, Mexico, Brazil and the United States. In each country I felt very welcome.

I have had manyexperiences, alwaysgood, and I’ve met amazing people. I have friendsnow across half the world. That’s so importantand it’s somethingthat I never imagined. I preferto paint in abandonedplaces, lonely places that providean inspiring spaceto paintin peace; that’s what I prefertoday.

I hope that I won’t stop butlive for manyyears toproducecountlessworks. When I die I hopeeveryone will still have theopportunity to enjoywhat Ienjoyed: art.